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Hepatitis C Surveillance in South Australia

Hepatitis C Medical Notification 01/10/01 - 31/12/01

In the fourth quarter of 2001, medical notifications of hepatitis C infection were received for 222 individuals, 134 (60%) males and 88 (40%) females. This is fewer than the number of notifications recorded in the previous two quarters.

Among the notifications, 35 cases were reported as having an earlier positive test (pre-1995) whilst 77 individuals had never been tested before for hepatitis C infection. In a further 58 cases the testing history was unknown. Of 52 individuals with a previous negative test, 33 were tested more than 12 months earlier and 19 were tested within the last year. In 129 (69%) instances, past or present injecting drug use was reported as a likely transmission route for hepatitis C virus in newly diagnosed infections (Table 2.1).

At the time of diagnosis, the majority of cases (83%) were aged between 20 and 49 years, (101 males, 54 females) (Table 2.2). Of seven males and six females aged less than twenty years (13 cases), ten had a history of injecting drug use.

Newly acquired infections - Incident Cases

Incident cases are infections acquired in the last 12 months, and are identified by recent seroconversion for hepatitis C antibodies or a positive test accompanied by acute clinical hepatitis not ascribed to other causes.

Twenty-two incident cases were identified during the quarter, 19 had negative serology in the preceding 12 months and three were clinical diagnoses. The incident cases comprised eleven males and eleven females. In 19 cases the likely mode of transmission for hepatitis C virus was injecting drug use. Occupational exposure accounted for one case, and another was reported as perinatal transmission of hepatitis C virus. One further case resulted from the receipt of tissue in a life-saving procedure (Table 2.3).

Collated laboratory data for hepatitis C antibody tests performed during the quarter are shown in Table 2.5.

Table 2.1 Hepatitis C infection, new diagnoses 01/10/01 - 31/12/01 and year. Exposure category by sex.

^{1 Includes IDU in combination with other categories.}

^{2 Residence/medical treatment in a high prevalence overseas country.}

^{3 Includes occupational exposure; household, perinatal & sexual transmission; body piercing/ acupuncture.}

Table 2.2 Hepatitis C infection, new diagnoses 01/10/01 - 31/12/01 and year. Age group by sex.

Table 2.3 Newly acquired infections (Incident cases*) of hepatitis C infection, 01/10/01 - 31/12/01 and year. Exposure category by sex.

^{* Incident cases are newly acquired infections, see text.}

Table 2.4 Newly acquired infections (Incident cases*) of hepatitis C infection, 01/10/01 - 31/12/01 and year. Age group by sex.

^{* Incident cases are newly acquired infections, see text.}

Table 2.5 Summary of laboratory tests for hepatitis C antibodies,
01/10/01 - 31/12/01 and year. Laboratory by sex.

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